Category Archives: Three Minutes to Midnight

With only ten days to departure for Japan and my month-long trip to the Pacific, I’m getting a little anxious and nervous. There are still many loose ends and things to do in preparation. Keeping me up at night.

I’m relieved that my biggest logistical problem, lodging in Hiroshima, has been solved. Thanks to local peace activists, I now have a place to stay. Because my stay overlaps with the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima all of the hotels and guest rooms are booked.

Lodging has also been confirmed on Majuro in the Marshall Islands and Guam.

Lodging in Gangjeong Village has been secured by my dear friend, Joyakgol, the activist who accompanied me on our cross-country screening tour of The Ghosts of Jeju in 2013. I’ll spend ten days on Jeju, actually working about 40% of the time, and will take time on this trip to see everything on this beautiful Island that I missed in 2012. I’ll use this stop to rest up a bit after 15 grueling days in Japan and to visit with the many friends I made.

My greatest concerns regarding my two short visits to Okinawa have been relieved, thanks to the efforts of a Japanese-American living in NYC and her contacts in Okinawa, along with the assistance of Edo Heinrich-Sanchez, an American veteran and activist living there. Lodging has been confirmed, translators found, and a series of location shoots and interviews have been organized.

My stay in Hawaii has not as of yet been finalized, but local activists have offered to help.

I want to thank Veterans for Peace National, VFP #001 – Tom Sturdevant Chapter here in Maine, the Smedley Butler Chapter in Boston, Pax Christi Maine, and the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space for being major sponsors of the film.

Thanks also to several local VFP Chapters around the country for their contributions.

And, of course, thanks to everyone who has contributed financially towards this trip. Without you it would not have been possible.

If you are receiving this and have not contributed, it isn’t too late. Every little bit helps.

Your contributions will be completely tax-deductible if you contribute on the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space website: http://www.space4peace.org/

Simply click the “Donate” button, enter the amount you wish to donate and in the comments declare it is for Regis Tremblay’s film.

Should you wish to send a check, make it out to Global Network and mail it to 209 River Rd., Woolwich, Maine 04579. Be sure to put Regis Tremblay in the “for” line.

Thanks to all who have contributed to date. Only about $1,000 short of my goal with only three weeks to go before departure. There is still time to help out if you have been intending to do so.

As I reported last time, I have booked the entire trip: Kyoto, Hiroshima, Okinawa, Jeju, The Marshall Islands, Guam, and Hawaii. I leave on the 25th of July and return September 5th to Maine.

From my research, I’ve learned a great deal about issues and events that have been unreported and classified for many years. For example, I had no idea that nuclear tipped short range missiles were deployed to Okinawa during the Cuban missile crisis, and thereafter more than 1200 nuclear missiles were deployed in silos until the 1970’s.

I am so looking forward to spending 10 days in Gangjeong Village where I will film the progress of the base which is about 85% completed. And, I will have a leisurely time to interview Gangjeong villagers, Fr. Mun and the Jesuits as well as spending quality time with my many friends.

From Jeju, I fly to the Marshall Islands where several interviews with national politicians and local residents have been scheduled. I will make a day-night trip to Kwajelein to show the massive U.S. military presence there that is the heart of the missile testing program conducted from Vandenburg Air Force base in California.

The Marshall Islands have not only suffered immensely from the detonation of 67 atomic bombs, but the Marshallese have been brutally treated by the U.S. military since 1946 when thousands were lied to and relocated to a tiny atoll where thousands live in abject poverty.

All kinds of cancers have caused premature births and deaths from the contamination of their land and the food chain.

The Marshallese are also among the first to be threatened by rising sea levels caused by global warming. Where will the island people go when their islands are covered by the sea?

On the way to Hawaii, I’ll make a brief overnight stop on Guam, another island that has been occupied by the U.S. military.

Finally, I will spend a full week in Hawaii with activists involved in protests against the militarization of their homeland, the illegal annexation of Hawaii by the U.S. in 1898, and the construction of the 18 story high new telescope on Mauna Keo.

Many of us are aware of Monsanto and GMOs, but few are aware of what five of the world’s largest biotech chemical corporations have been doing in Hawaii. For the past 20 years, Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont Pioneer and BASF have performed over 5,000 open-field-test experiments of pesticide-resistant crops on an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 acres of Hawaiian land without any disclosure, making the place and its people a guinea pig for biotech engineering. (See more at: http://www.occupy.com/article/hawaiians-against-monsanto-struggle-reclaim-paradise#sthash.3rv1q2G1.dpuf)

In spite of all of these imminent threats to our existence on this planet, the people of the Pacific islands are rising up and providing the rest of us with hope and an example of what it will take to overcome the evils of Capitalism.

My hope for this film is to educate and inform people around the world about the threats to our existence and encourage them to do something to stand in solidarity with all of the oppressed people of the world.

The only hope to turn things around is for a world-wide and peaceful uprising against the dark forces that would destroy us.

If you have planned to contribute, please do what you can. Also, please share this with like-minded friends.

Your contributions will be completely tax-deductible if you contribute on the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space website: http://www.space4peace.org/

Simply click the “Donate” button, enter the amount you wish to donate and in the comments declare it is for Regis Tremblay’s film.

Should you wish to send a check, make it out to Global Network and mail it to 209 River Rd., Woolwich, Maine 04579. Be sure to put Regis Tremblay in the “for” line.

As of today, May 26, 2015, $6,000 has been raised. Thanks to all who have contributed so generously. But, in order to get to the Marshall Islands, which I consider to be of upmost importance for the film, and to cover lodging, meals, and local travel, another $4,000 is needed.

As of today, I’ve booked travel to Kyoto, Okinawa, Hiroshima, and Jeju where I will arrive on August 8th.

Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space says, “have faith” that the money will come in.

If you have planned to contribute, please do what you can so that I can secure the cheapest flights and finalize my plans. Also, please share this with like-minded friends.

Your contributions will be completely tax-deductible if you contribute on the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space website: http://www.space4peace.org/

Simply click the “Donate” button, enter the amount you wish to donate and in the comments declare it is for Regis Tremblay’s film.

Should you wish to send a check, make it out to Global Network and mail it to 209 River Rd., Woolwich, Maine 04579. Be sure to put Regis Tremblay in the “for” line.

Most Americans never knew that between 1946 and 1958 the United States decided that the Marshall Islands would be a good place to test atomic bombs. Over the course of those 12 years, 67 atomic bombs were detonated over Bikini Atoll and the surrounding Islands.

Dud Hendrick first brought it to my attention in The Ghosts of Jeju, but what I didn’t know was how the U.S. showed no regard for the people of the Marshall Islands before, during and after the tests. Previously classified and top secret documents indicate that the Americans looked down upon the people of the Marshall Islands as savages and did almost nothing to protect them from these blasts. Afterwards, the United States denied and attempted to hide the devastating effects to human life, food supplies, water, and the environment.

One test, code-named Bravo, was one thousand times the strength of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Bravo was just one of 67 tests that accounted for one hundred and eighty megatons of nuclear yield….the equivalent of a Hiroshima sized bomb going off every day for twelve years. (Don’t Ever Whisper by Giff Johnson)

It wasn’t until 1978 that tests were done that confirmed the health effects on the peoples of the Marshall Islands. People were dying of cancers and women were giving birth to babies with horrendous defects. I also learned that thousands of U.S. Navy and military personnel involved in those tests had also suffered serious health issues caused by radiation.

And last year I watched the riveting testimony of Marshall Islander Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, pleading with the entire assembly of the United Nations to do something about climate change because rising sea levels will soon wash over and destroy the Marshall Islands and the Islands of Oceania. You can watch the six minute presentation by clicking the link below.

After reading Giff Johnson’s book, Don’t Ever Whisper, about his deceased wife Darlene Keju and how she spent her short life fighting for the victims of radiation poisoning, and after seeing Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner’s moving speech at the United Nations, I knew that I had to go to the Marshall Islands to interview survivors, local activists and politicians for my film because the people of the Marshall Islands are closer to midnight than three minutes for they have suffered the effects of those terrible instruments of mass destruction and are now concerned about the imminent catastrophic effects of rising sea levels due to climate change.

In The Ghosts of Jeju I was able to bring to light the untold history of the United States on Jeju Island and throughout Korea from 1945 to the present. In my short film, The United States of War, I exposed the lies and myths about American Exceptionalism and the truth about the American Way of Life.

11:57 – Three Minutes to Midnight will continue in this same vein, exposing the untold history of the United States in the Pacific from Hawaii, Japan, Okinawa, Jeju down to the Marshall Islands. There is a pattern that dates back to when the white European explorers came to the Americas, committed genocide and stole the land and resources from the indigenous American peoples.

Since 1798, the United States has militarily invaded other countries more than 500 times. In my seventy years on this planet, America has been at war for all of them and today America has brought the world to the brink of extinction with the very real threat of nuclear war with Russia and China.

11:57 – Three Minutes to Midnight reveals more of the untold history of the United States and more about the imperial advance of this country in order to dominate the entire planet through full-spectrum dominance.

The American Way of life and the global economy, fueled by predator Capitalism and based on an insatiable appetite for fossil fuels and slave labor in order to maximize profit also has the world on the brink of extinction due to the immediate and catastrophic effects of climate change.

After three weeks of fundraising, enough money has been raised to reserve flights for the entire trip. What remains to be raised are funds for accommodations, food, local travel, rental equipment, and miscellaneous expenses.

Your contributions will be completely tax-deductible if you contribute on the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space website: http://www.space4peace.org/

Simply click the “Donate” button, enter the amount you wish to donate and in the comments declare it is for Regis Tremblay’s film.

Should you wish to send a check, make it out to Global Network and mail it to 209 River Rd., Woolwich, Maine 04579. Be sure to put Regis Tremblay in the “for” line.

Thank you for investing in independent media. You will be proud that you played an important role in the making of this film.

With the threat of a nuclear Armageddon and the looming catastrophic consequences of climate change, the Doomsday Clock is now at three minutes to midnight.

In one week, $4,135 has been raised. That is more than one third of the way to my goal of $10,000 that will cover travel and travel related expenses.

Your contributions will be completely tax-deductible if you contribute on the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space website: http://www.space4peace.org/

Simply click the “Donate” button, enter the amount you wish to donate and in the comments declare it is for Regis Tremblay’s film.

Should you wish to send a check, make it out to Global Network and mail it to 209 River Rd., Woolwich, Maine 04579. Be sure to put Regis Tremblay in the “for” line.

I would like to add that I will be going to the Marshall Islands where the U.S. tested 67 atomic bombs between 1946 and 1958. I will interview the people there who have suffered the ill effects of radiation and will be the first to suffer the loss of their islands because of rising sea levels brought about by global warming and climate change.

With the threat of a nuclear Armageddon and the looming catastrophic consequences of climate change, the Doomsday Clock is now at three minutes to midnight.

Once The Ghosts of Jeju was completed, I knew there was an even bigger story that had to be told and last year I again came to you for assistance to make a return trip to Jeju. Unfortunately, I became ill two weeks before departure and the trip had to be postponed.

This new film will begin with the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and trace the imperial advance of the U.S. throughout the Pacific and its effects not only on the lives and livelihoods of the island peoples, but the degradation of the environment everywhere there are U.S. military bases or where the U.S. has conducted wars and war games.

This film will document the effects of U.S. imperialism, through the personal testimonies and eyewitness accounts of activists and the indigenous peoples whose lives have been ruined or seriously degraded because of the American presence in their lands.

It will also show the effects of the American military presence on their towns and villages and their pristine ecological environments, and it will document the massive popular uprisings against this U.S. presence and the complicity of their own governments in furthering the threat of war not only with China but Russia as well.

If you have been following the news about the US-NATO provocations in Ukraine and along Russia’s border, as well as the so-called Pivot to Asia to check China’s expansion, you undoubtedly realize how dangerous and provocative these actions are. The threat of a nuclear Armageddon ending all life on Earth hangs in the balance.

I’m sure that most of you are as troubled and concerned as I am about the effects of war making here at home and abroad. Millions of innocent people have been massacred throughout the Middle East, Afghanistan and Iraq. Hundreds of children and innocent civilians have already been killed by drone attacks.

Simultaneously, there are no hopeful signs that anything meaningful will be done to mitigate the pending catastrophic effects of Climate Change that will make life on Earth unsustainable. No one can predict just when extinction will happen, but the threat of a nuclear exchange and the expected consequences of climate change are pushing the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight.

The underlying cause of this dire situation is Capitalism and its voracious appetite to consume all of the Earth’s resources without adequate replenishment. In order to maintain its position of a unipolar superpower in the world, the United States, recognizing the economic threat of the emergence of China and a Chinese-Russian partnership, has the largest and most lethal military in the world to maintain that position.

Here at home, as well as throughout NATO countries, and America’s allies in Japan and the Pacific, the costs of endless war are in the trillions of dollars and continue to rise every day. The results are extreme austerity spreading through all levels of society.

Here in America, to pay for the ships, planes, bombs and missiles, and the costs related to keeping hundreds of thousands of troops in over 130 countries, social uplift programs, education, infrastructure improvements, renewable energy investments, light rail development, and even veterans’ benefits are being raided. The current Congress is also coming after Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

This is a global struggle that binds all of us together. And as John Pilger states, “Make no mistake it is an epic struggle. The alternative is not just conquest of far away countries; it is the conquest of us, of our minds, our humanity and our self-respect. If we remain silent, victory over us is assured.”

My goal for this film is to continue to educate and open the eyes of Americans and people around the world about the most pernicious and destructive global forces that are threatening life on the planet. Therefore, the title, “Three Minutes to Midnight.”

With nothing but word-of-mouth and many grassroots organizations, The Ghosts of Jeju is still playing in more than 15 countries, and it has been translated by volunteers into six languages.

My goal for this film is $10,000 and that will cover travel and travel expenses to Kyoto, Hiroshima, Okinawa, Jeju, The Marshall Islands, and Hawaii on the return. I’ve been invited to attend the annual Global Network meeting in Kyoto, Japan from July 28 to August 2. Therefore I will need your help by June 1st.

We already have an offer of a $500 donation to match the first $500 that I can raise.

Your contributions will be completely tax-deductible if you contribute on the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space website: http://www.space4peace.org/

Simply click the “Donate” button, enter the amount you wish to donate and in the comments declare it is for Regis Tremblay’s film.

Should you wish to send a check, make it out to Global Network and mail it to 209 River Rd., Woolwich, Maine 04579. Be sure to put Regis Tremblay in the “for” line.

Some of you contributed last year and I still have $1,000 from that campaign. Please contribute again whatever you can.

My new film in production since The Ghosts of Jeju. Fundraising campaign will begin this weekend. Examining the dual threats to extinction of life on Earth: nuclear Armageddon and Climate Change.

Watch The Trailer

Testimonials

"It was a smashing hit....people were crying and they were clapping at the end.....I handed out the DVD's strategically to key leaders in various Swedish cities, and from Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Japan and Mexico.....people passed the hat to send money to the village but I insisted they keep the money towards sending a representative from Sweden to the village ASAP......they loved the music, the story, and the resistance.....many people sent congrats to you....it's was a European opening night showing......5 stars. Add Russia to list of places I sent DVD home with....a man who works directly for Putin."